Autumn Souvenir

I've been fortunate to see some pretty outstanding rock n' roll in my life. Although my tastes can sometimes steer towards the quieter songwriter types (Townes, Rouse, Buckner), when it comes to my love affair with music, there's still nothing that can touch an impassioned rock n' roll show. This is why I've squandered savings and spent chunks of paychecks to see live music for the greater part of the past 15+ years. When thinking of the most memorable shows, those shows where I walk out sweaty, raspy-voiced and feeling as if I saw and felt something beyond explanation, I revisit about 40 Springsteen shows, along with incredible late nights with Marah, Wilco, Arcade Fire, Centro-matic, The Gourds, Brakes and Apollo Sunshine, to name a few. And then there's the afternoon of March 18, 1999. I was in Austin for my first of six trips to the South by Southwest music conference. Now ten years later, those rainy few hours at Club de Ville in Austin, Texas stand firmly ...

Cheese by Willem Elsschot, Fiction, 1933 : 7.9

I checked PF today for the first time in a week or so. They have finally gotten around to reviewing the Farrar/Gibbard record. This is the site that gives 8.0+ ratings to absolute wankery like Foals, Yeasayer, and man, I can't even recall the names of all those crap noodlers that they adore. To give One Fast Move or I'm Gone an awful rating is just downright silly. It's a very good, if not great record. This site jumped the shark years ago, but this is the nail. What basura.

I suppose it's pretty rare that songs play a part in a monumental change in your life. I can think of a handful that have truly changed something inside of me for good. Most likely, that shift is the result of some life happening that ties into that song: lost love, death, birth, falling in love, viewing something in nature, etc. Wilco's "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" is one of those songs. I got my hands on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot , from what I remember, a few months before 9/11. I was absolutely floored. It took me weeks to get even a little understanding of the complexity of the album, but it was the lead track that had my jaw on the ground. Opening with fuzz, distortion, bells, buzzes, clocks and pianos, the song felt like a soul-altering listen. And then came the acoustic strum and the erratic drums. And then, "I am an aquarium drinker, I assassin down the avenue, I'm hiding out in the big city blinking, what was I thinking when I let go of you" fol...

Record Club: Skip Spence "Diana" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo .

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I've never particularly liked Newsom, but this interview is downright embarrassing. What an arrogant, dismissive, whiner. I can't wait until this fool is out of office. And good luck reaching the governorship someday, slick.

, originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon .

I was just perusing a few 'best of' lists in search of some books to pick up, and, of course, decided to compile my own list. This is far from comprehensive as I really just scanned my bookshelf and tried to recall others that influenced me. And obviously, some were read many, many years ago and may not hold a candle if I were to read them today. Nevertheless, here it goes (no order): Rule of the Bone Russell Banks Watership Down Richard Adams Black Boy Richard Wright Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe The Bluest Eye Toni Morrisson South of the Border West of the Sun Haruki Murakami Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass Darkness Visible William Sytron Straight Man Richard Russo Revolutionary Road Richard Yates Hunger Knut Hamsun In the Lake of the Woods Tim O'Brien Into the Wild Jon Krakauer Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint Brady Udall It Ain't No Sin To Be Glad You're Alive: The Promise of...

Having decided that a career in law was not for me, in early 2004 I left my job at a Manhattan law firm and plunged full-time into a volunteer role within John Kerry's presidential campaign. After that inspiring and energizing experience wound down, I was headed off to graduate school in public policy. But something changed. Maybe it was the Kerry defeat or the impending loans. At the last moment (literally), I backed out. With a full mind and an uncertain future, I headed to Myrtle Beach to take some time and help out in a family restaurant. Outside of Houston, Texas, I can't imagine a place where I fit in less. Sporting the Kerry badge on my workbag nearly cost me a few teeth and any mention of my political beliefs or social positions was asking for major, major trouble. As I drove those long byways with nothing but Home Depots, Wall Marts, fast food chains and bars on the perimeter, despite being a fairly (very) melancholy record, Beck's Sea Change rarely left the chang...

Vinyl Advance of Uncle Tupelo's "No Depression" , originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon . Purchased at Nuggets in Boston for $5.99 in 1997. The sticker on the vinyl says WMBR. I am guessing that this is now worth just north of $3.8M.

I'm probably breaking some self-imposed unannounced rule here by including a cover song, but this one's just going to have to slip. John Prine's cover of Blaze Foley's "Clay Pigeons" is a stunning rendition. At SXSW '00, I walked into Waterloo Records for my annual record haul and the store was playing Foley's Live at the Austin Outhouse . I bought the record that day and fell in love with "Clay Pigeons." Last year a friend led me to this Prine record and I fell for it all over again. A truly beautiful song.

If this guest list isn't indicative of how little has changed in Washington, well, I don't really know where else to look. Cards went out to media elites, government insiders, big money buffoons, Obama's "friends" and a few authors and poets for good measure. Colin Powell? Ya mean that fella who sold his soul, lied to the world and played a huge part in leading us into the fiasco that is Iraq. Michael Bloomberg? Big money = one can even destroy term limits. Katie Couric? Ugh. Ed Rendell? Odds that he had scorching body odor? Pretty high. Bobby Jindall? Ugh-squared. Timothy Geithner? Hope he picked up the tab. Kirt Wagar? I hope this is a simple typo and it's actually Kurt Wagner from Lambchop. If so, disregard this entire post. Jim Messina? Loggins got the shaft? Marland E. Buckner? This better be Richard Buckner's brother. Ari Emaneul? Yeah, now that's a guy who needs to hang with more celebrities. Granted, it's a huge step up from a Bush/Cheney S...

Arcade Fire released two records in the 2000s, both of which are among the best records of the decade. The second, Neon Bible , is often overlooked due to the hysteria around its predecessor, but it may be as good, if not better. The album is full of powerfully spiritual? songs, but it's "Windowsill" that seemed to sum up a lot of my feelings during the era of Bush and Iraq. Man, what a song. Don't wanna give 'em my name and address, Don't wanna see what happens next, Don't wanna live in my father's house no more. Don't wanna live with my father's debt, You can't forgive what you can't forget, Don't wanna live in my father's house no more. Don't wanna fight in a holy war, Don't want the salesmen knocking at my door, I don't wanna live in America no more. 'Cause the tide is high, and it's rising still, And I don't wanna see it at my windowsill.

Morning Smoke , originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon .

, originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon .

Last night I had dinner with some friends about an hour North of San Francisco. Both the husband and wife have been throughout many parts of academia and both appear on a constant journey to educate themselves. I'm sure their opportunities are fairly endless, and maneuvering into a career that would inflate their bank accounts would not be too difficult. But they both remain committed to educating others and themselves, research and overall understanding. They've also both spent some time in Nicaragua and both possess a true commitment to the people of the country. One story that they shared really hit home. As they were scrolling through pictures of children sitting in decrepit "classrooms," I was amazed by the looks of hope and curiosity in the eyes of these kids. The realities of where they were remained years away from settling in. But even when those kids do mature into adults, it's unlikely that cynicism will truly set in. These people seem to work with what...

First, let's mention some artists who were in contention: Josh Ritter was clearly near the top. Eels were right behind or alongside Ritter. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were't far behind. M. Ward, Damien Jurado and Okkervil River certainly cracked the top ten. Josh Rouse and Bonnie "Prince" Billy were in the mix. Despite only releasing two records, both of which are phenomenal, The Arcade Fire have to be considered. Spoon made some good records. Nathan Moore quietly became one of the best songwriters around. Austin, Texas' The Gourds continued doing what they do and doing it great. But this one was fairly easy. Although they arguably released their best and most consistent material in the 1990s, Wilco are the top artist of the 2000s. Through numerous lineup shifts, label changes, rehab stints, hairstyles and even a very untimely death, now 15 years strong, Wilco have solidified themselves as one of the greatest American bands ever, and undoub...

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Odd Man Out by Matt McCarthy, Memoir, 2009 : 8.0

Take a look at the website. Sarah Palin is literally splashed all over the place. How this complete imbecile could be considered for the president of a local PTA chapter, let alone President of the United States lays bare some of the integral problems that could drive this country into a deeper abyss. With all the issues and troubles both domestically and internationally, the New York Times opts to go Palin crazy. Truly, truly sad.

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Tomorrow night Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band wrap up what's seemed like a decade-long tour of the world. After a very quiet 90's where Bruce released only three records, 1992's double set of Human Touch and Lucky Town and 1995's Nebraska -light Ghost of Tom Joad , once Bruce hit the age of 50, it's as if his rock n' roll life was reborn. He's released five studio albums this decade, the highlights being 2002's The Rising and 2005's Devils & Dust , along with a few live records, the phenomenal Born To Run re-issue, DVDs and assorted other goods. Although the last two records were sub-par by Springsteen standards, the Working on a Dream tour has been one of the most energetic and relentless tours of the band's career. I was astounded at how tight and true-to-form they sounded about a month ago at Giants Stadium. Since that night, friends have seen them perform every record released from 1973-1984, with the exception of his debut,...

Freedy Johnston may be responsible for my career over the past 13+ years. In the summer of 1995, while home on summer break and working an awful part-time telemarketing gig, I was finally starting to think about what course I'd take following one more year of college. Waffling between another decade or so of post-grad study and my purest passion, music, I sat one day in my bedroom and flipped through the liner notes of Freedy Johnston's Can You Fly . I was in love with the record at the time and played it endlessly throughout that summer. My eyes suddenly locked on the label: Bar None Records, Hoboken, New Jersey . I lived only about 25 minutes from Hoboken. The next morning I called Bar None and asked if they needed any summer interns. "Sure, come down tomorrow," said the cool woman on the line. And thus it began....

Charlotte Gainsbourg "Heaven Can Wait" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo .

Sometime around the mid-2000s or so there seemed to be a resurgence in the popularity of soul music. Folks were suddenly dropping Sharon Jones and Raphael Saadiq in the same breath as tedious hipster acts like the F**k Buttons and, I don't know, other shitty bands. Given the deluge of love for these acts, I was naturally skeptical. Few of these acts ever settled into my rotation. When it came to 2000s soul, no one nailed it like the preacher of soul, Solomon Burke. In his mid-60s and hovering around what must be about 400 lbs., Burke assembled an amazing project that enlisted Dylan, Costello, Lowe, Brian Wilson and others to contribute songs. Joe Henry turned in one of the most masterful production jobs of the decade, and Burke had created a masterpiece. Any song on this record could likely land on my list, but the title track is the first one that grabbed me. And for an entire year, Solomon Burke was my present-day Sam Cooke.

Yes, that is Jay Farrar (UT, Son Volt, Gob Iron) on the left and Jeff Tweedy (UT, Wilco, Golden Smog, my apartment) on the right. I think the lead singer found his way into a scene in Karate Kid, Part 8 .

Is this really a surprise? Rod Stewart isn't even a shell of the person he was when The Faces were one of the greatest bands ever. When is the last time that the feather-haired asshat released something that wasn't absolutely atrocious? That would be 1972's Never a Dull Moment or The Faces 1973 swan song Ooh La La . Correct, that's 36-37 years ago. That is a year before I was BORN and I have gray hair and a flabby ass. I mean, can we let this one go already? Ronnie Lane was an integral part of the band and he left us over a decade ago. Since Rod turned into a L'Oreal model 35 years ago, it's time to put this idea to rest. I mean, they're in talks of adding the lead singer of Simply Red? Good sweet god, please stop. Let's remember them for this:

The Magnetic Fields Tix now available. I am very excited about this.

For years, friends had been pushing Bee Thousand on me. Yes, I got it, but it was just a bit too lo-fi for me. I enjoyed the record as a whole but I just didn't feel the spirit. Then came 2001's Isolation Drills . This I got. This is Bob Pollard going with full-on rock n' roll, and unlike the nearly dozen records he seems to ship each year, it sounded like he took his time on this one. "Glad Girls," "Twilight Campfire," "How's My Drinking?" and "Fair Touching" were just a few of the songs that made this my favorite GBV record. But it was "The Brides Have Hit Glass" that I played to death. A few friends and I used to sit around our Brooklyn apartments drinking and listening to music until the sun came up. Around 2-3am we'd often go to request hour where we'd each get to pick the next track. I can't count the number of times I surveyed thousands of CDs but ultimately landed on this track.

The opening track from Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros' fantastic Streetcore record jump-started my immersion into Strummer's post-Clash career. After raving about this record on a listserver, a kind subscriber sent me a Strummer mix that I've now listened to hundreds of times over. And whenever I hear "Coma Girl," I recall that fateful night when I turned down a ticket to see Strummer at St. Ann's in Brooklyn. It wasn't long before that opportunity would never again present itself.

I have officially canceled not just cable, but television altogether. The Comcast rep. was actually very kind and refrained from trying to steer me to some new "package deal." She almost seemed psyched that I was getting rid of the crap. This is the first time in my life that I've been without television. As a child, I spent most of my waking hours sitting before a television. During my teens, I watched college basketball, the Knicks and Yankees just about every single night. From 2000 on I became a full-on news addict, spending hours upon hours watching MSNBC, C-Span, PBS, etc. The last few years my viewing has been fairly limited to HBO and The Office . Since I can wait for the former on Netflix ( Bored To Death better come soon) and the latter on Hulu or NBC.com, well, it was time to bid farewell. Not only will I save over $60/month, but I will have to fill that time with other activities, hopefully reading, writing and jet skiing.

Edson by Bill Morrissey, Fiction, 1996 : 10.0 This is my favorite book. I first read Edson over a decade ago and on second reading, I relate to the protagonist just as closely as I did back then. A perfect novel.

Jukebox of Steel , originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon .

It truly is a crime to pop music that Beulah remain hidden from the masses. I hate when bands that I love call it quits, but hell, if I were in a band as good as Beulah and we couldn't make a living making music this good and this accessible, well, I just might call it a day too. 2001's The Coast Is Never Clear is an absolute pop masterpiece. Every single time I go to Amoeba in town and pass Beulah Street the following song immediately pops into my head. Pop greatness.

Record Club: Skip Spence "Little Hands" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo .

, originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon .

My South By Southwest '06 experience with Apollo Sunshine is well documented. With an open slot in my schedule, I casually bounced over to see the spinART showcase. As I walked in, a three piece was setting up. Apollo Sunshine was the name. Never heard of them. About 45 minutes later, I departed the club soaked in sweat with the greatest natural high (fine, about 19 beers as well) I'd experienced since those Marah shows back in the late 90s. These guys were young, loud, raucous, sloppy yet incredibly tight and full of rock fury. The highlight of the show was a song called "Phyliss," which had a room of newcomers dancing, yelling and standing in awe. Three guys. They switched instruments numerous times throughout the song. Guitarist/vocalist Sam Cohen must've played about six instruments during this one tune. Picks were flying, snare drums snapping, strings busting and voices howling. It was an escalation of in-your-face blazing rock n' roll. And the whole room...

I really want this dog , originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon .

We're still a long way off, and I'm very, very surprised that 39 democrats voted against, but the bill has passed. My representative, Nancy Pelosi, deserves an enormous amount of credit. We, as a country, stand one step closer to the biggest legislative victory of my lifetime.

When looking at my overall love for music, there's little question that I'm drawn to albums over single songs. Despite now being fully into the digital era, I like to look at an artist's work as a sequencing of songs and lyrics that tell an overall story, or some shit along those those lines. All that being said, there are certain songs that absolutely nail me. Songs that I listen to over and over sometimes for months at a time. And these are usually songs that open my mind to possibilities both attainable and reserved for dreams. These are the songs that I can't shake. For the rest of November, I'll highlight my favorite songs of the past ten years. The confusing yet beautiful opening 30 seconds of this track are a world somewhere. It may be a carnival, maybe a backyard bbq, maybe a mall somewhere, but whatever it is, it's a blend of children, dogs, change rattling, machinery, perhaps rain and there's the backdrop of a violin. And then this entire mess calm...

Says Jemaine I'd say this is a good move. Following a fantastic first season, the writing suffered throughout Season 2. Nearly every episode of the first season had brilliant moments, but it became clear over the second season that the material just wasn't there anymore. Nevertheless, it was a great show for a time.

The idea of getting your first thoughts out there and not worrying about form and structure. By doing it that way you're sort of helping to ensure that what you're getting out there is more ultimately individualistic instead of following someone else's structure. This sums up exactly how I feel about art, whether it be literature, photography or many forms of personal expression. I think grammar in writing and texture and lighting in photography are clearly important, but not nearly as integral as just getting things out or capturing something that moves you.

, originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon . Last night I almost pulled the plug and bought Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. Given a tight budget, I opted to pass for now. This morning I stumbled upon the above mini-library on Sutter Street and buried in the middle was the Dee Brown classic. I grabbed about eight others. As I was finishing my pillage, an older gentleman walks out with another box. "I'm moving and I just have too many of these," he said. "Thank you," I replied and he slowly walked away.

A book that covers the 1978 Darkness on the Edge of Town tour? Nah, doubt I'll pick that up.

Something in the Night , originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon .

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, Fiction, 1961 : 9.5

Can't say I do, Wayne. I understand that the days of ripping bands for licensing their tracks have about come to a close. With declining physical sales, a recession, and so forth, it's hard to argue against a band in need making a quick buck on the backs of some corporate suckers. That said, I think it's worthwhile to point out the ones that go, perhaps, a bit too far. Merrill Lynch, one of the major recipients of bailout cash, and one of the companies responsible for the near dismantling of the world economy, is in a different category. And the Flaming Lips are a band that have been selling out venues for 20 or so years. They've certainly paid their dues, and although their silly live shows have become incredibly tiresome, I can understand the appeal for a quick buck. But I can only guess that Wayne and company live fairly comfortably now. And they're deserving. But do they really need to take one of their best songs and sell it to the frat boys at Merrill Lynch? I...

The new reality that we live in seems to be on my mind quite a bit lately. With texting, e-mail, cell phones, Facebook, Twitter, iPods, on and on, it truly feels as if there's very little time for introspection, imagination and thorough thought. I stumbled upon the following Boston Globe article via a friend's blog that takes a look at these issues. It's worth a read. And then maybe a little time to think about it.

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Wonderful listen . The Lewis & Clark story is a classic.